Friday, September 16, 2016

Renaissance Newsletter #18

Past
Faires/Events

Couple found love
and weekend work with Bristol Ren Faire

Ed and
Elizabeth Dawson's first date was to the Bristol Renaissance Faire, and it
blossomed into a romance and a summer weekend avocation for the Elgin couple.The year was 1999,
and Elizabeth already was a veteran of attending and participating in the
Elizabethan gathering in the Wisconsin woods just across the border from
Illinois that runs from early July until Labor Day weekend.

"I have
vivid memories of visiting Bristol with my family as a child, and have a blurry
photo of my brother and I sitting next to a lion. I have a purple sparkly
unicorn painted on my face from the face painters," Elizabeth said.
"My maternal uncles and cousins have been season pass holders since they
started selling season passes, and they were the ones who gave me the idea to
make my own costume as a guest, back when I was about 14 years old."

Ed said that
until that fateful date, he had frequently gone to the faire over the years
with friends and family, but as a spectator.

In 1994 —
Elizabeth's junior year in high school — she and two female friends auditioned
together "after having spent most of the previous summer attending the
faire in our homemade costumes and having the times of our lives."Her friends
ended up in a dance troupe, and Elizabeth would up as part of a new troupe
called the Greene Children.

"We were a
group of people who'd been stolen by the fairies as children and had lived a
number of years in the land of Fairy where our bodies aged but our minds
hadn't," she said.

Elizabeth
performed at the faire until 1996, then took off seven years while in the Army.
When her enlistment was up, she returned to perform for one year with a Celtic
crafting group called Thistlecroft.

But back to 1999
and that initial date.

"It was
still bittersweet for me to go, as many of my good friends still performed, and
I missed it so very much," Elizabeth recalled. "So Ed mostly stood
around and watched me hug other people. To this day he swears he had a wonderful
time because he could see that I was so happy."

Elizabeth said
the two attended the faire at least once every season until her enlistment was
up and she was free to perform again in 2004.

"At that
time, my good friend Heather Last was performing with her husband in the
Trayned Bandes. When Ed would come up to visit me, he'd often stop by to see
Heather, and she and her husband encouraged Ed to come up and perform for a day
with them," Elizabeth said. "He enjoyed it so much that he returned
to do so several times that season, and then joined them full time in 2005,
when I transferred to that group as well to be with him and Heather."

Ed is a part of
Bristol's fight cast group called By the Sword.

"We are a
troupe of stage combatants who provide guests a taste of live swordplay on the
streets and stages," Ed said. "These fights are part of their own
storyline arc that progresses throughout the day."

A day's work
involves two scripted stage scenes that include everyone in the group sword
fighting; one in the morning to start the story and another in the evening to
wrap things up, Ed said.

…The Black Swan Inn
lineup consisted of a colorful and motley cast of characters. Some were local
residents, while others participated who live elsewhere in the state. A few
live outside of New Hampshire.

They went by such names
as Rufus the Mudbegger, Lord Aidan Fafinar, Lady Fafinar, the singing group Myschyffe
Managed, Brother Sylvan the Bard, Sam Handwich, the New England Brethren of
Pirates, the Dirge Queen, Granny Gruesome's Gleeful Tales, Brotherhood of the
Arrow and Sword, Fiddler of the Shire, The Pillage Idiots and the Jilly Beans
Fire Show.

Myschyffe, as in
Mischief, Managed is a group of madrigal a cappella singers out of Manchester
who specialize in medieval and Renaissance tunes with a decidedly slanted
twist. The seven-member group is led by Lord Aidan Fafinar of Derry, also known
as Bruce Hoskins. The guy in the group wearing the wolf's mask is Rufus
the Mudbegger, real name undisclosed, from Nashua.

On Saturday afternoon,
Myschyffe Managed sang an English Renaissance tune written by Thomas Morley
called "My Bonnie Lass, She Smileth." They followed it up with
a variation of the same tune written by P.D.Q. Bach, a fictitious composer —
supposedly "the forgotten Bach" — invented by musical satirist and
iconoclastic radio host "Professor" Peter Schickele.

The name of the updated
tune was "My Bonnie Lass, She Smelleth." Myschyffe Managed
followed that tune with an a cappella version of "Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight" from the 1950s.

The campy style
continued across the way with the New England Brethren of Pirates, led by
Brandon Berry of Manchester. Berry in a pirate costume is identical to
actor Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow.

Berry said his group has
between 25 to 30 members, and is growing. The group is devoted to all
things pirate, with the emphasis on the dashing non-historical side of the
pirate saga as depicted in Hollywood, from Erroll Flynn to Johnny Depp…

Berry fought a padded
sword "duel" with 8-year-old Rowan Reeves, of Piermont, with Reeves
holding his own. In the NEBP area, there were a number of pirate-themed games
for kids and grownups alike.

The Jilly Beans Fire
Show featured fire tosses with whirling chains, fire snakes and a cracking
bullwhip demonstration by Jillian Demarco and Josh Hamilton, both of Grafton,
Mass. At one point, Demarco, using her bullwhip, snapped a strand of uncooked
spaghetti extending from Hamilton's mouth.

There also was an
appearance by Brother Sylvan the Bard in full monk's costume. Brother
Sylvan, reading from a tiny scroll, also goes by the name of Ed Pacht, and he's
from Rochester. He bills himself as a "poet-writer, both tired and
retired."

A tarot card reader also
was on the scene Saturday. She was a young woman with a pronounced
Slavic/Russian/Romani accent. In real life, her name is Bekka Hoskins,
and she's not from the old country. She lives in Derry, and currently is
a student at Plymouth State University. Her European accent, wherever it came
from, was totally convincing.

Playing violin at the
entrance of the Black Swan was Liydia Alstrom, a high school student from Madbury.
It was her first time at the Renaissance Faire, and she said she was
loving it because "it's relaxed, but there's lots to see, and it's a nice
environment to play in…

Thousands of visitors flocked to Sherwood Forest to sample
the medieval delights of the Robin Hood Festival. The fun-packed event, which
is the historic forest’s 32nd festival was in celebration of Nottinghamshire’s
most famous outlaw… Visitors have enjoyed colourful displays with costumed
characters and medieval music, craft stalls, storytelling, comedy and have-a-go
archery. They were also amazed by compelling battles between Robin Hood and his
Merry Men as they took on the Sheriff of Nottingham, as well as jousting
tournaments and falconry demonstrations.

Fra Bartolommeo - the Divine Renaissance

At
the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen this autumn fRotterdam,
Netherlands - rom October 15 2016 until January 15 2017 ) discover the
masterpieces of Fra Bartolommeo (1473-1517), the Italian monk and artist from the
famous monastery of San Marco in Florence. He, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and
Michelangelo were the four most important artists of the High Renaissance.

Paintings by Fra Bartolommeo have never been seen in the Netherlands before;
some have never even left Italy. After five hundred years these paintings will
be reunited with their preparatory studies in Rotterdam. Loans are coming from
some of the world’s greatest museums, including the Uffizi in Florence, the Art
Institute of Chicago and the Louvre in Paris.

Museum Boijmans Van
Beuningen has the largest collection of works by Fra Bartolommeo in the world.
With hundreds of drawings from the two famous albums owned by the Florentine
collector Niccolò Gabburri, the museum has a world-class treasure trove. The
exhibition will showcase more than 150 drawings and ten paintings. Marvel at
the masterfully drawn preparatory studies, practical aids in the working
process, but also works of art in their own right. The paintings, ranging from
a small diptych to impressive altarpieces four metres high, are the glorious
end result.

The celebrated portrait
Fra Bartolommeo painted of his spiritual source of inspiration, the hellfire
preacher Girolamo Savonarola, is also coming to Rotterdam. This major
exhibition – a unique opportunity to learn about and understand this great
master artist and the time in which he lived – will be staged in Rotterdam
only.

The great art cover-up: Renaissance nudity

… Researchers at the
University of Cambridge have discovered that a skirt was crudely painted over the
naked Eve
in a Renaissance manuscript soon to go on view at the city’s Fitzwilliam
Museum. Some time between the 16th and 18th centuries a particularly prudish
owner had this image bowdlerised, even though the nudity of Adam and Eve is a
venerable and respectable religious theme.It’s far from
the only incident where Renaissance art has been considered so sensual and
provocative that it has been censored, or even destroyed. Works of art get lost
for many reasons, but there is a suspiciously high destruction rate for those
involving nudity. Leonardo da Vinci’s Leda and the Swan was one of the first openly
carnal depictions of myth in art, delighting in a big-bosomed,
curvy-hipped Leda.
Today, this painting is only known through drawings and copies. A French owner
probably destroyed it deliberately.

Leda and the
Swan is a particularly troubling Greek myth: understood literally, it is the
tale of a woman who made love to a swan.. Not only did someone obliterate
Leonardo’s version, but yet another pious fool destroyed Michelangelo’s
(admittedly highly perverse) painting of Leda.Michaelangelo gives Leda the face of his male assistant Antonio Mini and presses her/his lips to the tip of the
swan’s hard beak. This suggestion of fellatio may be one of the factors that
pushed a prude to destroy the painting. Even a copy that survives in the
National Gallery has a controversial history: in the 19th century, it was kept
in the director’s office because it was considered too disgusting to be on public view.

Pieter
van Huystee’s new documentary, Hieronymus
Bosch, Touched by the Devil, made its US theatrical premiere on Wednesday,
July 27. This year marks the 500th anniversary of the Dutch master painter’s
death….Pieter van Huystee tracks down Bosch’s 25 or so surviving paintings,
recording the meticulous work of archivists to definitively attribute the work
to the artist (10 family members painted) as well as the jousting by Dutch and
Spanish curators over granting access to the masterpieces. (The Garden of
Earthly Delights, the Prado’s Mona Lisa, has not left Spain in 400 years and
it’s not about to anytime soon.) The discovery of a “new” Bosch in a small
Kansas City museum (“It’s like your child just won the Nobel Prize” – Julian
Zugazagoitia, Director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art), and the
controversial decision by experts that two of the Prado’s Bosch works are more
correctly attributed to “the workshop of H. Bosch,” all figure into the action.

The
artist’s vivid imagination spawned precise, grotesque, salacious
juxtapositions: “a bird-headed monster wearing a cooking pot as a helmet while
devouring a man whose backside emits fire, smoke and a flock of blackbirds.”-
Tom Rachman, The New York Times….

Renaissance Period were
loaded with the foods modern diets warn us about -- salt, sausages, bread and
more bread

Our
desire for indulgent meals may be over 500 years old. A new analysis of
European paintings shows that meat and bread were among the most commonly
depicted foods in paintings of meals from the 16th century.

For
the study, published in Sage Open, researchers started with 750 food
paintings from the past 500 years and focused on 140 paintings of family meals.
Of the 36 Renaissance Period paintings, 86% depicted bread and 61% depicted
meat while only 22% showed vegetables.

Interestingly,
the most commonly painted foods were not the most readily available foods of
the time. For example, the most commonly painted vegetable was an artichoke,
the most commonly painted fruit was a lemon, and the most commonly painted meat
was shellfish, usually lobster. According to the authors, these paintings often
featured food that was indulgent, aspirational or aesthetically pleasing.

Palazzo Venezia's Hercules Room restored

Four-month-long
restoration work to bring back to its original splendor the Hercules Room of
15th-century Palazzo Venezia in downtown Rome has kicked off.
The room will be open to the public during the restoration
as of September.
The work will concern the room's wooden ceiling and frescoes representing
some of the 12 labors of Hercules, which have been attributed by a number of
art historians to Italian Renaissance master Andrea Mantegna.
The renovation will be carried out by L'Officina, a
restoration consortium directed by Paolo Castellani, an art historian at the
Polo Museale Lazio, the State museums of the region around Rome.
The room is one of the most important and refined at the
palace built by Cardinal Pietro Barbo in the mid-15th century, shortly before
he became Pope Paul III….

It is located on the first floor, also called 'piano nobile'
in ancient Italian aristocratic palaces because it was where the noble owners
would live.

The wooden ceiling and top part of the walls feature, among
others, family crests and the representation of some of the 12 labors of
Hercules, a series of episodes concerning penance tasks carried out by the
great Greek hero….

Beginning
around the year 1000, Jerusalem attained unprecedented significance as a
location, destination, and symbol to people of diverse faiths from Iceland to
India. Multiple competitive and complementary religious traditions, fueled by
an almost universal preoccupation with the city, gave rise to one of the most
creative periods in its history. Opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on
September 26, the landmark exhibition Jerusalem 1000–1400:
Every People Under Heaven will demonstrate the key role that the Holy
City, sacred to the three Abrahamic faiths, played in shaping the art of this
period. In these centuries, Jerusalem was home to more cultures, religions,
and languages than ever before. Through times of peace as well as war,
Jerusalem remained a constant source of inspiration that resulted in art of
great beauty and fascinating complexity.

Jerusalem
1000–1400: Every People Under Heaven is the first exhibition to unravel the
various cultural traditions and aesthetic strands that enriched and enlivened
the medieval city. The exhibition will feature some 200 works of art from 60
lenders worldwide. More than four dozen key loans come from Jerusalem's
diverse religious communities, some of which have never before shared their
treasures outside their walls.

Exhibition Overview

The
exhibition will examine six specific factors that made medieval Jerusalem an exceptional
source of artistic inspiration:

The
Pulse of Trade and Tourism: Often understood as the crossroads of the
known world, Jerusalem was a thriving urban center, teeming with locals and
tourists, new arrivals and long-timers, merchants and artists, soldiers and
scholars. The exhibition will evoke the many wares of the marketplace,
including ceramics produced locally and imported from as far away as China.
Textiles on view will reconstruct the fashion sensibilities of Jerusalem's
residents, including, surprisingly perhaps, their predilection for printed
cottons from the Indian subcontinent. The shared taste of the region's
wealthy inhabitants confounds efforts to distinguish the owners' identities,
let alone their ethnic or religious heritage. Jewels that are recognizably
Islamic in technique correspond to contemporary descriptions of the
trousseaux of Jewish brides. A remarkable gathering of Cross reliquaries
speak to the links between Jerusalem and Europe.

The
Diversity of Peoples: Dozens of denominations and communities contributed to
the artistic and spiritual richness of the city. The historical record
surrounding medieval Jerusalem—a "city of foreigners"—includes both
harmonious and dissonant voices from many lands: Persians, Turks, Greeks, Syrians,
Armenians, Georgians, Ethiopians, Indians, and Europeans from each of the
Abrahamic faith traditions passed in the narrow streets of the city—not much
larger than midtown Manhattan. Visitors will be astonished, for example, by
the numerous distinct alphabets and different languages of prayer.
Exemplifying this will be Christian Gospel books in Arabic, Greek, Armenian,
and Syriac, a Samaritan Bible in a distinctive Hebrew script, and the
biblical book of Kings in Ge'ez, the language of Ethiopia, given by that
land's king to his community in Jerusalem.

The
Air of Holiness:
The exhibition will attempt to evoke the city's sacred iconic monuments, with
their layered history and shared spaces. Though Jerusalem can appear eternal,
it has undergone enormous change. Seemingly immutable elements of Jerusalem's
sacred topography were understood differently in this period. Medieval maps
show us that Christians understood the Muslim Dome of the Rock and the Aqsa
Mosque to be the Ancient Temple and the Palace of Solomon, respectively.
Manuscripts and rare documents demonstrate that medieval Jewish pilgrims
focused most of their attention on the city's gates and the Mount of Olives,
rather than the Western Wall.

Among
the highlights of this section are five sculpted capitals from the Church of
the Annunciation in Nazareth belonging to the Franciscan Community of
Jerusalem. These pristinely preserved works, unearthed at the beginning of
the 20th century, powerfully demonstrate the skill and imagination of the
sculptors and the dramatic relationship between faith and art during the
brief but exceptionally fertile Crusader period. Met conservator Jack
Soultanian has prepared them for exhibition; this is the first time the
ensemble has left Nazareth.

The
Drumbeat of Holy War: Intimately bound with the belief in Jerusalem's sanctity
and the sense of exclusive ownership it instilled is the ideology of Holy
War. This period witnessed the intensification of both crusade in
Christianity and jihad in Islam. The exhibition offers an important
opportunity to present these concepts, so charged in our own day. Art was
recruited to justify war, presenting it as beautiful and divinely sanctioned.
A manuscript depicting weapons created for the great Islamic warrior Saladin
presents them as exquisite goldsmith's work while a sculpted effigy
(newly-cleaned for the exhibition) depicts a French nobleman as a crusader in
full battle armor for eternity.

The
Generosity of Patrons: The exhibition will introduce visitors to some of the real
men and women who altered the aesthetic landscape of the city. The name of
Melisende, the Frankish-Armenian Queen of Jerusalem, is linked to a
celebrated Psalter, which will be presented as a larger witness to her
activity as a patron of churches and scriptoria. An unprecedented gathering
of luxury metalwork will evoke the patronage of Al-Nasir Muhammad ibn
Qala'un; this dazzling display appropriately conjures up the munificence of
this most important Mamluk patron of Jerusalem.

The
Promise of Eternity: Finally, this is the first exploration of art that
springs from the belief, common to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, that
Jerusalem stands at the gates of heaven. The exhibition will include
masterpieces of Persian illumination that bear witness to the key role of the
Holy City in the life of Muhammad and in the Muslim faith tradition.
Alongside these will be Hebrew manuscripts in which the glittering implements
of the Temple symbolize the longing for redemption. An imposing jeweled
shrine represents the Heavenly Jerusalem as Christian imagined it.

Catalogue and Related Programs

A
lavishly illustrated catalogue appropriate for specialists and general
readers alike will accompany the exhibition. More than fifty scholars
from the United States, Europe, and the Middle East have contributed to the
catalogue. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and distributed
by Yale University Press, the book will be available in The Met Shop
(hardcover, $75.).

The
exhibition will be accompanied by a variety of education programs at The Met
Fifth Avenue. Exhibition tours will be offered throughout the run of the
exhibition. A Family Afternoon on the theme of "Daily Life in
Jerusalem" and a Met Escapes gallery tour for visitors with dementia and
their care companions will also take place.

Adam
Gopnik, critic-at-large at The New Yorker, will be joined by scholars,
historians, and other thought leaders in a stimulating discussion series
called "Imagining Jerusalem: The Golden City in Art, Lore, and Literature."
Topics to be explored include the city's many images, poetic uses, and
spiritual reverberations. Additional information is available at metmuseum.org/gopnik.

The
oratorio Al-Quds: Jerusalem by celebrated American composer Mohammed
Fairouz was commissioned by MetLiveArts for the exhibition. Including poetry
by Naomi Shihab, the world premiere will be performed on Friday, December 9,
by the Grammy-nominated Metropolis Ensemble (Andrew Cyr,
conductor). Tickets start at $65.

A
previously planned event, "Feast of Jerusalem"—two nights of
inspired conversation and Hafla (family-style feast) in the Museum's Petrie
Court Café on Friday and Saturday, November 18 and 19, with cookbook
authors Laila el-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt (The Gaza Kitchen: A
Palestinian Culinary Journey) and chef and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi
(co-author with Sami Tamimi of Jerusalem: A Cookbook)—is sold out.

And,
at The Met Cloisters, the vocal ensemble Schola Antiqua of Chicago will
perform the sacred repertoire of Jerusalem: Georgian and Armenian hymns;
cantorial psalms; Sufi devotional music; and Jewish, Christian, and
Muslim calls to prayer. The program, "The Suspended Harp: Sounds of
Faith in Medieval Jerusalem,"will take place on Sunday, October 23, at 1
and 3 pm. Tickets start at $40.

Music

Ralph Vaughn Williams fascination with English Renaissance
Music

Ripe with an
intimate humidity and a potent cocktail of bug spray, pinots, and cheese, the
Koussevitzky Shed welcomed Sir Andrew Davis, violinist Lisa Batiashvili,
and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Davis and the
BSO began with a clear-eyed vision of the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
by Ralph Vaughn Williams. The composer’s fascination with English Renaissance
Music colors much of his work, and this Fantasia is no exception. The music of
Tallis and his Renaissance countrymen Byrd and Gibbons (who also helped shape
Anglican choral liturgy) is never trying to assert itself. To our Bach-tuned
ears, the modal harmonic language seems riddled with anguished cross relations
and at times seemingly unresolved harmonic structures. However, underneath
those impressions, the listener is taken on a decidedly spiritual quest, rather
than one of individualism. Vaughn Williams captures this aesthetic for a
post-modal world. Hear Thomas Tallis’s Third Tune for Archbishop Parker (Why
F’umth in fight) [here] and Orlando Gibbons’s
“Lord Salisbury’s Pavan” [here]….Complete
article: http://www.classical-scene.com/2016/07/24/batiashvili-bso-tanglewood/

“The High
Renaissance” concert will be performed a cappella

The
Albany Chorale (GA) began preparing for its 2016-17 performance season on Aug.
8, one that Chorale Director Marc Boensel says will be challenging and
ambitious as the group continues to push to be the region’s premier vocal
ensemble.

“The
Chorale members asked me to push them this year,” Boensel said last week. “So I
said, ‘OK, I can push.’ They’re excited, but they also know they’re going to
have to work hard at it.”

The
most challenging performance on the schedule will come in mid-February, the
third concert of the season. That program, titled “The High Renaissance,” will
be performed a cappella.

“This
will be a new experience for them,” Boensel, who is in his second season of
directing the group, said. “The Chorale has never done a concert before without
any accompaniment.”

The
group is usually supported by Meri Beth Hillard on piano and sometimes has
other accompaniment as well, as it will when it performs next spring with the
Albany Symphony Orchestra at two ASO concerts.

“They’ll
be performing High Renaissance music,” Boensel said of the Feb. 16 concert, set
for First Presbyterian Church of Albany. “It’s going to be powerful for them …
and a powerful experience for the audience.”

He
said that concert will require the most of the Chorale members, both in
performance and preparation in rehearsals.

“It’s
going to be the biggest challenge the group’s ever had,” he said…

Summer
Festival of Sacred Music with German Renaissance Composers (NYC)

The
22nd annual St. Bartholomew'sSummer
Festival offered a service of sacred music from the German Renaissance
including works by Hans Leo Hassler, Gregor Aichinger and Michael Praetorius.

Hans
Leo Hassler (1564-1612) was born in Nuremberg and studied in Venice with Andrea
Gabrieli and was a colleague of Giovanni Gabrieli. He returned to Germany and
in 1602 became chief Kapellmeister in Nuremberg. Much of his music shows the
influence of the Venetian School, particularly his polychoral compositions.

Gregor
Aichinger (1564-1628) was a Catholic priest and the organist to the highly
influential merchant-banker family of the Fuggers in Augsburg. He was the first
German composer to make use of the basso continuo, a stylistic transition into
the Baroque period.

Michael
Praetorius (1571-1621) was one of the greatest Lutheran composers in Germany.
He served as Kapellmeister in Lüneburg and for the Duke of Brunswick. Although
a large portion of his sacred music output was in German based on Protestant
hymns, he composed Latin motets as well, many expunged of references to the
Virgin Mary.

…For the
upcoming concert, aptly called “We Minstrels 3,” Ms. Patton will shine a light
on the Dark Ages to the haunting music of 12th century Occitania (the land east
of the Atlantic through France, then south to Spain); the breeding ground for
Eleanor of Aquitaine’s Court of Love, with its troubadours and trobairitz (lady
performers); then on to the violin, guitar, and keyboard instruments that gave
us Renaissance music.

In her recent
scholarly dip into medieval music, Ms. Patton developed an observable crush on
a certain poet, singer, and carillonneur named Bernard de Ventadour. “Most
people have never heard of him, but he was the 12th century equivalent of Bob
Dylan,” Ms. Patton said, “an incredibly talented folksinger-songwriter whose music
just blew everybody away. Everybody was playing his songs then, and they were
so good that we’re still playing those songs and using his lyrics 900 years
later.” (If you care to acquaint yourself with this rock star of yore, go to
YouTube for a number of imagined stylings of Ventadour’s songs).

Ventadour,
master of the classical form of courtly love poetry, sang of unrequited love, a
love so profound and yet tragically unobtainable that the only recourse for the
poet is to walk the earth and share his sexy grief — or, as some perceive of
it, divine longing — with whoever might chance to stop and listen. Scholars —
including Mr. Merck and Ms. Patton — have pondered who this proud, unyielding
lady of Ventadour’s might have been. Many have posited it was Queen Eleanor
herself, who brought Ventadour with her to her husband Henry II’s Plantagenet
court in England (Katharine Hepburn played her in “The Lion in Winter,” with
Peter O’Toole as the libidinous king). Later, Ventadour returned to Toulouse.
Later still, he retreated to a monastery, and presumably died there. …Complete
article: http://www.mvtimes.com/2016/08/03/minstrels-3-concert-explores-multiverse-music/

The book of Fenagh 500 festival

This
year marks the 500th anniversary of the writing of "The book of Fenagh
" in 1516.

The
book of Fenagh is one of Ireland's most important medieval manuscripts. The
book is kept in the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. To mark the 500th
anniversary, a Book of Fenagh 500 festival took place over the August bank
holiday weekend….

On
Saturday afternoon there were walking tours with Chris Reid (archaeology
lecturer in Sligo Institute of technology) exploring the village, the abbeys,
the graveyard and all the monastic ruins. Those who joined these walking tours
learned that the village of Fenagh is one of Ireland's best kept archaeologist
secrets.

Within
the confines of the village, dominated by the medical churches and related
earthworks, there are more than a dozen significant archaeological monuments
representing almost every major period in history.

Another
delightful event that took place was a concert of medieval music in St.
Catherine's Church of Ireland late on Saturday afternoon.

Finally
on Sunday,…there was a medieval barbeque in the community centre,..

The piece is a
mixture of English translations of poems by the medieval Jewish scholars Solomon
ibn Gabirol and Shmuel HaNagid, who both lived in Spain, and pieces by Federico
García Lorca. How did you choose these six texts?

Various
people encouraged me to look at the extraordinary Hebrew poetry from medieval
Andalusia, including my former teacher Alexander Goehr. I bought the marvelous
volume of translations “Dream of the Poem,” made by the American poet Peter
Cole, and was immediately struck by the beauty and breadth of vision in these
texts. I then contacted Cole directly, and he proved to be a generous and
sensitive guide for me while conceiving the nature and structure of the work.
The countertenor sings the Hebrew poems in English, but I wanted a different
text for the chorus — and I eventually found this in late Lorca. But there is a
strong link between the two poetic sources, as both were inspired by early
medieval Arabic poetry from Andalusia.

Barony of
Bonwicke medieval recreation group: More chivalry, less plague

It’s
not exactly a Middle Ages reenactment group. Barony of Bonwicke is similar, but
with somewhat of a happy twist.

“We
like to recreate the Middle Ages and the Renaissance as it should have been,
and not as it actually was,” said “Lady Eleanor” Zeina Khan.

Fellow
recreater Kristy “Kristyan” Cook has the perfect analogy: “A lot more chivalry
and a lot less plague…”

“You
get to learn about history in ways you can’t in a book,” said Robert
“Maerricbjartmarson” Holland. “You can read about battles and clothing, but
experiencing it is completely different.”

Maerricbjartmarson
— pronounced “Merick-bee-art-mar-son” — grew up fascinated with medieval-era
history and myths; King Arthur and Merlin always seemed to catch his attention.
A history fair in sixth grade introduced him to the group of which he is now a
member: “The SCA was there, and I thought they were the neatest thing.”

Krystan
joined because she likes the art; Lady Eleanor because she likes the time
period.

“Every
time I would go to Renaissance fairs people would say, ‘You look like you
belong.’ I said, ‘Society of who?’ and after a while I decided to look them
up,” Eleanor said….

Bonwicke
represents Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, San Angelo and other parts of West Texas.
You could call it a chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism — an
international group — but it’s not that simple. First, the Society for Creative
Anachronism is divided into kingdoms. Each represents multiple U.S. states or
Canadian providences, or entire countries. Bonwicke’s kingdom — Ansteorra —
consists of Texas and Oklahoma…

"Renaissance
festivals have basically turned into medieval-themed Comic-Con," Thomas
Schroeder said. "What we do, we try to pick a specific time in history for
the event to be themed around."

Schroeder
is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, an international
organization that, according to its website, is "dedicated to researching
and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe."

The
group divides the world into "kingdoms." Most of Texas falls into the
Kingdom of Ansteorra, and a large swath of West Texas, from Plainview to
Rankin, and San Angelo to Abilene, is known as the Barony of Bonwicke.

When
I was a kid, my mom took me to my first Renaissance festival in California.
People there were very intent on making it authentic — at the time it was run
by the SCA — and it was fun. But fast-forward through several decades and many
fantasy movies, and now it's difficult to recognize what is accurate and what
isn't at a latter-day Ren-fest. There weren't any trolls, fairies or barbarians
strolling around during William Shakespeare's time, which is the period of the
English Renaissance.

Members
of the SCA are more intent on learning about and researching a period of
history than they are recreating "The Lord of the Rings." As with
Civil War and American frontier re-enactors, the aim is to educate and thus be
educated.

Barony
members like Schroeder and his wife, Rachael, wear period clothing and adopt
names that fit with the era. Accordingly, Schroeder's barony name is Gabriel
Thomas, while Rachael's is a little more involved: Alys Anna Vondemstern. Or
something like that; the spelling seemed a little fluid as I asked…

What
Willow and I wanted to see, however, was the fighting.

Historic
combat of this caliber requires some adjustment. Everyone wears armor, but it
is made from modern components. Schroeder called his "sport armor"
because though made from metal plates, it was lighter and not as encompassing
as the plate armor used in actual warfare.

"All
of the body armor is made from stainless steel, most of it is 18-gauge,"
he explained, gesturing across his body...

…SEPT. 17 THROUGH OCT. 16... at the Hollister-close destination, and a
variety of theme weekends lend the lark much of its loveliness. A Royal
Masquerade is set for the opening weekend of October, while mythical creatures
rule the final weekend of the affair. There are more to peruse, so peruse
away, while also dreaming of the pageants, comedic shows, courtly processions,
and all of those vendors purveying in all of your flowery crown, leather
satchel needs. A maypole carousel, Stonehenge heraldry, a petting farm, face
painting, and a host of other charming diversions await at the annual faire.
That it is always a grand hello to autumn is one of its nicest bits, but there
are several nice qualities in its quiver. Will the autumn equinox serve as some
sort of time portal back, then, to the age of jousts and jests and traveling
troupes? Fall does have a way of summoning magic each and every year, and, for
many revelers, definitely here.

King Richard's Faire, New England's largest and longest-running
Renaissance Faire, announces the opening of its 35th season, to run September 3
through October 23, 2016 on weekends and Monday holidays (Labor Day, Columbus
Day). Tucked away on 80 acres of enchanted forest in Carver, Mass., King
Richard's Faire announces offers guests a full day of live, interactive
entertainment for all ages and Saturday special events. Guests will enjoy
daring knights jousting on horseback and eight stages filled with song and
dance, stunts and storytelling. Guests can mingle with the King and his
royal court, noble and not-so-noble subjects and skilled performers, and over
100 unique and talented artisans, including New England artists. At every turn,
guests will encounter fantasy and wonder through minstrels, musicians,
acrobats, stilt walkers, giant puppets, wenches, and more.

Faire hours are 10:30am-6pm every Saturday, Sunday, and Monday
holidays. Tickets are $31 for adults (12+) and $16 for children ages 4-11.
Children under 4 are free, and parking is free. For special celebrations
or group discounts, email info@kingrichardsfaire.net. The
Faire is located at 235 Main Street (Rt. 58) in Carver, Mass. 02330, 508-866-5391. Visit King Richard’s Faire on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/TheKingRichardsFaire) and on
Twitter and Instagram @KRFaire.

…
There are enough performances, demonstrations, vendors and not-your-ordinary-fest-food
stands to keep people of all ages engaged for a long time. Workers, mostly
college students (theater majors) traverse the grounds in period costumes,
authentically emulating knaves, wenches and what-have-yous of the era. I say
“authentically” even though I wasn’t quite born yet in that era, but my older
sister was, and I have it on pretty good authority that the performances are
spot on.

The
last time I was there, we attended a falconry demonstration. As we stood at the
top of the amphitheater trying to decide where to sit, a falcon glided up and
landed on the shoulder of one of our group. That was amazing, if a little
startling.

The New York
Renaissance Faire: Where Fantasy Rules

The New York Renaissance
Faire is back in the Orange County town of Tuxedo for its 39th season, and
it is putting on a show you may find yourself looking forward to each and every
year. I hadn’t attended this event before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. My
4-year-old daughter Brooklyn, her dad, and I made the scenic 45-minute drive
from upper Manhattan to see what the Renaissance Faire is all about.

Once we arrived, it completely blew my mind. The faire is
set up as a 65-acre Elizabethan village. It feels like being on a movie set. This
celebration of the 16th century is filled with hundreds of costumed performers,
jousting tournaments, music, festive foods, magicians, manually powered rides,
and more than 100 shops selling mostly handmade wares. To add to the fun, most
of the attendees dress up, too. The venue even offers rental costumes if you
feel inspired to rent one for the day.

Next we tried the amusement rides. There are about a half
dozen manually powered rides spread throughout the grounds. We rode the Dragon
Swing, Bedlam Barrel, Crow’s Nest, and carousel. These are all unique, hand
crafted, and pushed or spun by hard-working Faire employees, all dressed in
character. As much fun as these were, I think the highlight was the games.
Brooklyn and her dad played four rounds of archery, both eventually hitting the
bullseye!

We refueled at Willow's Fair food pavilion, which is new
this year and very charming. It's a row of restaurant stalls that offer a
smorgasbord of foods, including vegetarian and gluten-free options. We ended up
with sausage on a stick, pizza, and dragon chips. All were deliciously greasy
and perfect fair food. While eating we watched performers dance and perform
while many attendees joined in on the fun. It was a great break in our day and
gave us a moment to take in the spirit of the festival and see how much fun
everyone was having….

The year is 1509. King
Henry VII, victor of the War of the Roses and founder of the Tudor dynasty, has
died. His eldest son Arthur, who was to have taken his place, has also
succumbed to illness. And so England’s throne and future now fall to the king’s
second son: Henry Tudor.

Henry has chosen the
Shire of Mount Hope as the site of his coronation, and on this glorious
festival day our good Lady Mayor has spared no expense. She has prepared music,
dancing, acrobats, jousting, and even a game of human chess! And after a day
full of revelry and merriment, England’s new King shall be crowned upon the
Globe stage with a fantastic celebration to start his new reign.

The 13-week 36th season
of the Faire runs Aug. 6 through Oct. 30. The Faire is open Saturdays and
Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Labor Day Monday, on the grounds of Mount
Hope Estate, 2775 Lebanon Road, Manheim.

Festivities includes
more than 90 daily shows on open-air stages and the village streets, with
music, dance, and action-packed performances. The entertainment is endless as
the citizens of the Shire fill the streets with improvised song, swordplay, and
even mud begging. Man-powered rides, a gaming village, a fight circle, a dungeon
museum and an amazing maze all add to the thrill of a Faire visit…

Welcome
to Great Woods of Cumberland County, England. The year is 1501 and Henry VII is
still in power. We are moving out of the darkness of the Middle Ages and into
rebirth (or “Renaissance”). This is a fantastical time of innovation, merriment
and exploration of new continents.

Our
fair Queen has invited the entire county for a festival to celebrate Her Royal
birthday. She will entice you with a chess match where you are the game piece
and the winner shall receive her personal token; those of a lower class may
learn the proper etiquette for being in her presence and later enjoy tea with
Her Majesty.

You may
spot a lost dragon in the Woods or a festive bagpiper marching along a path
towards the lively dancing Deborah. Visit the Village Encampment and behold A
Life Medieval, learn blacksmithing, or stoke the fires of the cooking pit.

Be
ready to help judge the combat as the Villagers and Guardsmen test their
abilities... but beware thieves and undesirables!

Wear your best finery and you
may win our costume contest. Enjoy a day of feasting, frivolity, games, and
wondrous handmade crafts and wares. There is fun for every memer of the family.